Once Upon A Time

[elentgirl]

Hello All

I have just added my first game to the completed games list and hope that some of you will try it out.  It's called ONCE UPON A TIME and is a point and click adventure.  It is a long game and took me over three yeas to complete, and is a rather large download (67.2MB)  But I think you might find it worth trying if you have boadband.

At least, have a look at the web site I have set up, where you can download the game if you wish:
www.freewebs.com/oncetimegame

I am not used to posting on forums and suchlike, and I seem to have messed up a bit when adding my game.  I forgot to add a password (it did'nt make it mandatory!) and now I can't edit the entry to add a link to a screenshot!  If anyone knows a way around this, I would be grateful for help.

I welcome all constructive criticism and comments.

Elen (elentgirl)

[Nikolas]

elen.

This looks STUNNING! (from the screenshots that is).

I will take a few screenshots to help you out once I download the game!

More comments to come

[Ghost]

Beautiful game, elent, congratulations!

[That guy from Faxanadu]

Original style. The menu and design reminds me of a medieval story book, kinda like the Sword in the Stone.

Downloading...

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

I've just booted it up, checked out the first 3 rooms, and left, because I don't have much time and just wanted to take a quick look.

As a result of that quick look, I'd just like to say you've done a great job visually, it's very refreshing, and I just wish the character movement was a bit faster.

I'll definitely be playing more when I have the time. This looks indeed like a great game.

[miguel]

Played it for some time and think it's a very interesting aproach on the genre, it sure makes me want to play more. Congrats.
Nice art and the starting music is very good.
Hope to finish it when I have more time.

[Vai777]

Hi!

I just taken the time to register to let you know that I downloaded your game and played it for maybe 1 hour so far.

It's a beautiful game and I really like the feel of the game (it's really give you this impression that you are in a fairy tale).

Good work!

[R4L]

OH MY LORD! This game is gorgeous!

Nice job elent!

[Vai777]

Aaaaargh! I was really getting into this game and I finally collected all the tiles, but when I put the tiles in place the character say something like "Nothing happen. I wonder if the tiles are in the right order". So, OK I pick all the tiles without taking the time to put each tile each time back in the inventory. Result : all the tiles have disappear!!! They are no longer in my inventory and around the door frame! 

[sthomannch]

Beautiful! I really like it.

About the disappearing inventory items: it happened also to me. Fortunately, I saved the game just before worked on the frame. I'm close to finishing the second level...

[elentgirl]

Hello All

I must applogoise for the disappearing tiles.  I had an email from CodeJunkie yesterday telling me about this problem.  I have managed to fix it, but it was a bit late last night to post (and my partner needed her dinner etc).

I have now uploaded a revised version of the game to the web site - Version 1a.  But those of you who don't want the bother of downloading it again, the exsting version is okay if you only remove one tile at a time from the door surround and put it somewhere else before picking up another one.  Sorry!

If you prefer to download the new version but don't want to lose any saved games, if you copy the saved game file(s) - agssave.000, etc  - and paste them into the new folder once you have extracted the files, this should work (it does for me!)

I hope that you are all enjoying the game apart from my little oversight with the tiles (in all my test plays it never occurred to me to try to pick up more than one tile at a time!).  Thank you all for you lovely comments.

Elen

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

1st - it's not recommended practice to use previous saved games with new versions, and I'd just like to point out that anyone who does that, does it at his own risk.

2nd - you might want to check out Clickteam's free PatchMaker, for a game as big as yours. Redownloading the game is 60mbs, a patch will probably be less than 2mbs.

[Gilbert]

In fact, if the modified part is just a room file and nothing global was changed, you may distribute the modified .crm file which, when placed in the game's folder, will update the game automatically, no need to use patches.

[Leon]

Great game. I just finished the first chapter. Nice graphics. Good story. I can see what took the three years..

A few remarks though:

It would be nice to be able to page back and forth in the intro-book. Once turned a page, there's no way back.
You can only look at things once. I personally like to re-explore things to see what I've missed. I think that will increase the replay value as well.
Sometimes corridors appear as 'chimneys' in the room (if you know what I mean). They lack perspective. But other than that, well done!

[elentgirl]

Thank you Rui for your suggestion about using PachMaker.  I have downloaded the sofware from Clickteam and will try it out.

Regarding Leon's comments about paging back on the intro texts and "chimneys" -
Chapter 1 is the only chapter with more than a single page of intro text, and you can easily go back to it by loading the chapter again, which is saved auomatically at the start of each chapter.  My stylised graphics (a hybrid plan/elevation view) may not be to everyone's taste, and reflect the game's origins.  When I said it has taken over 3 years to make, that refers only to this incarnation of it.  It started life as a maze/adventure game that I programmed for my son on a Sinclair QL in the late 1980s, and it still retains something of that feel.  So it's probably even more retro in some respects than the Sierra clones that some of you make!

I hope you all enjoy it.
Elen

[Snake]

Elen, you've done an amazing job with this game. I'm only still in chapter one, but I've been loving every minute of it.

I love every aspect of this game, from the music, the sfx, the art and the interface.
The whole thing is just so classic. This is truely shaping up to be one of my new favorites.

Heh, every time a ghost comes out it startles me!

I have a question:

Spoiler

I have 10/11 tiles right now (plus the lantern). Do I have to place the tiles in the wall? I can't seem to put them up there if that's what I'm supposed to do... If not, then I guess I'll just have to wait

[close]

Thank you for this great game!


--Snake

[elentgirl]

Thank you Snake for your lovely comments!

In answer to your question, if you are in the main hall with the panelled frieze of pictures above the door and wall panels, then NO - they don't go there.  You will find where they go soon enough.   But if you downloaded Version 1, before I fixed a bug yesterday, read my posts above, otherwise you could lose your tiles!

If you have any further queries, I'm happy to try to help.  If you don't want to spoil things for others, you can always send me a personal message and I will reply to that.

Carry on gaming!
Elen

[sthomannch]

Yes, great game.
Snake, this should go to the hint and tips, anyway

Spoiler

there is a "cure" against the ghosts, in the library. Read the section about the apparitions SLOWLY, until Jack begins to laugh. It is even possible to finish chapter 1 with all beans white.

[close]

[Snake]

Haha, yes, I've read the book. I was saying that they really do jump me when they pop out of nowhere

Thanks for the help and next time I will remember to post in the hints and tips,


--Snake

[elentgirl]

Hello All

A number of you appear to be having problems with Chapter 3, so I have modified the code to make it a little easier, as well as giving an extra hint about what you need to do.  I plan to add the revised version (1b) to my web site in a day or so, but for now, if any of you want to update your ealier version, there are two patches available, one to update Version 1, the other for Version 1a.

The patch for Version 1 can be downloaded from: http://www.box.net/shared/static/subaamvsc8.exe

The patch for Version 1a can be downloaded from: http://www.box.net/shared/static/g43oqcwwgo.exe

Once you have updated your program you will need to go back to the end of Chapter 2 and re-play the end of that Chapter.  Later saves will not work properly.

For those of you who don't want to patch your game, it is possible to complete the chapter without the patch (at least it was for me) but more difficult.

I hope this helps
Elen